Published Aug. 5, 2014 at 03:30PM / Updated August 23, 2015 at 08:33PM

Sonoran, 10, to appear in Down syndrome video

Austen Thibault, The Union Democrat

Danner Poe will not only get to take his first trip to New York at the end of September, he'll get to see himself on Times Square's jumbo screen.

The Sonora 10-year-old's picture will be featured in a film for the National Down Syndrome Society's kickoff to this fall's "Buddy Walks," a national series of walks tied to Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October.

Poe's mother, Tamara Polley, said she was happily surprised on Friday to hear her son's picture will be used. Polley, a Sonora attorney, spent all weekend preparing a trip to see the video herself with her husband, Doug Poe, and two sons, Danner and Josh Poe.

The video will feature a montage of people with Down syndrome living their lives, playing and learning alongside friends and family.

Polley didn't know any details of the videoexcept that only about 220 of more than 2,000 worldwide photo entries will be featured in the film.

Polley said Danner was excited, but couldn't quite wrap his head around the trip across the country and was focused on his upcoming birthday in September.

The picture, coincidentally, is of his birthday last year, spent with his brother and cousins. He is throwing his hands up in celebration at the very end of the song, "Happy Birthday."

For the complete story, see the Aug. 5, 2014, edition of The Union Democrat.